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by Sharm de Alwis

The OTSC at Mt. Lavinia came alive on the night of Saturday, 28th September as a motley crowd of over 200 Thomian Boarders, star-dusted by the Warden, turned up for revelry, to swap yarns and hark back to "the days of their youth, the days of their glory."

Two minutes of silence was observed for the fallen heroes of the school. The banner read 'Miller - Copleston re-union' and by some twist of discrimination, Winchester, Chapman and Cloughton had been excluded.

The Happy Hour was stretched to two perhaps because Thomian rarely can measure time. Most boarders were in their own age groups so as to interact the better, mindful of the dictum pronounced by John Selden that "old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes: they were easiest for his feet."

Evin Mohammed wished to adopt as the Boarders' Anthem the Elephant House jingle "cup, cup, cup, cup, cup, cup, cup." The music could have been toned down a few scales on an occasion when the gathering was for fellowship. Anyway, the show was on.

Quentin Israel, the much respected and beloved coach of all Thomians was there, casting a benevolent glance at the multitude aping his hair style.

If I was apprehensive to the degree that I even wore my under-wear I must be forgiven for having remembered that Nimal had once said "Nobody is black, nobody is ugly in the dark." And when Baila closeted me in the closet my fears were allayed only when he told me how he, a village lad from distant Matara, had come to join the elite at studies and games. That he and his two brothers Mohan and Rajpal had gone on to excellence and captain the school at rugger.

That record of the triumvirate is a story for another page where sports is written of in purple prose but then a chappie from another school once said he never read my articles and I don't blame him for not being able to appreciate writing that touches the helms of literature.

I wished to start at the top but the Warden would not be drawn in to the booby trap. Asked for some memorable Boarding stories he deftly said he was never in the Boarding. Prodded to relate "third party yarn of the ribald variety, he was smooth in the manner of reply: "As a school cop these incidents you refer to steered clear of me."

Bala, the athletic captain recalled raiding the Winchester dorm for delicacies and he was then the Head Cop! Hunger is the abiding memory of a boarder. Esto Perpetua!

Apart from the Trinity/Thomian affinity, I had played in the inaugural Old Thomian rugger match, dubbed the Thomian Tigers, against CR & FC 'B'. Frankie David would hook the ball out with crisp regularity and I, as the scrum-half, had to feed the threes with C. V. (Puggy) Gooneratne and S. D. Gunaratne, both strapper Old Royalists shadowing my every move. That we lost only 3-6 is a tribute to Thomian grit. Esto Perpetua!

The oldest living Thomian cricket captain's grandson, Milinda Morahela and Tony Weerasinghe walked up to Amal and me and I had to express my surprise that Amal and Tony resembled each other like identical twins. Amal was quick with the reason: "Our mothers have been close friends."

Tony had preferred hockey to rugger but one day he was coaxed to turn up for practice at rugger, a game he had considered fit for mugs compared to the skills of ball dribbling with a stick.

He put over two drop goals from varying angles and asked the startled co-players, "Shall I put it over with my left foot also?" Next day Quentin Israel ordered him as he was going for hockey practice, "Weerasinghe, where do you think you are going? Put that stick away and come for rugger practice."

Romesh Fernando who had the distinction of being star bat, star bowler as well as wicket-keeper still retains his handsome frame.

Romesh said that their highest jinks had been scaling the down-pipe and scooting for a thosay feed at Murugan's and the occasional hefty meal at the Egyptian. I'll say it again: hunger is the abiding memory of a boarder.

It must also be remembered that the initial impetus to Alerics was given by the captive market of the Thomians. Senaka Fonseka is one of those boys who visited Murugan's and the Egyptian because he sports a bulky figure and now thrives on the memory of a Stubbs Shield win over Tyronne Smith of Trinity.

Amal Fernando who had played rugger for STC as well as for Trinity was his customary svelte frame of mood and deed and, not to be outdone, the suave Tissa Jayasinghe, as one of the prime movers who lent a hand to Ananda Pathirana, was in exuberance, whipping up enthusiasm and activity.

I wondered if Thomian Boarders also played ducks and drakes like the Trinity Rydeites and Napierites who would be Alisonians by night and who was their surrogate mother to equal Trinity's Georgina Wadsworth.

Stories were rampant of the Royal-Thomian, the oldest inter-school cricket match in the world and was the nucleus of the Country's 1st XI. Sasi Ganeshan and his brother Ajit both captained the College XI. Sasi recalled that he had been dropped for one match due to a bout of mischief and the entire team nearly went on strike. In his captaincy year the Royalists were saved by Ranjan Madugalle, an Old Trinitian.

The Warden has graciously consented to the Event being held next year in the College Boarding but, certainly, during the vacations and on the payment of boarding fees.

In the time of senior citizen Cutty Jansz in whose 'boarding' I had languished for three days, all Boarding Houses were fully occupied with 360 as against about 1,500 day scholars. Cutty had seen the shift from Mount to Peradeniya and back again during the War years. In '81 the year in which Prasantha Wijesinghe left school the numbers were 150/3,000.The Warden knows the ethos of the College too well and will revive the Boarding system helped by rugby maestro, Ken de Joodt as senior boarding house master, Esto Perpetual!

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